An example image of ASTER On-Demand L2 Brightness Temperature at the Sensor.
The ASTER On-Demand L2 Brightness Temperature at the Sensor is an on-demand product generated using the five thermal infrared bands between 8 and 12 µm. Brightness temperature is the apparent temperature of the imaged surface assuming a surface emissivity of 1.0 or that of a blackbody. However, this Brightness Temperature at Sensor product, as the name implies, entirely ignores atmospheric effects. The radiance at the sensor is the integral over the instrument response function of the emissivity, times the blackbody radiance. Spectral emissivity and temperature are the unknowns in this equation. The Brightness Temperature algorithm converts the radiance values in the L1B into corresponding brightness temperatures values by setting the emissivity to one (1), which is based on the assumption that the target is a blackbody. Brightness temperature is therefore defined as the temperature that a blackbody would be in order to produce the radiance perceived by the sensor. The output product is a five-band data set in units of degrees centigrade, scaled by a factor of 100. Brightness temperature is used, for instance, to observe volcanic ash clouds and also in detecting ice leads in the Arctic.
Area | ~60 km x 60 km |
Image Dimensions | 700 rows x 830 columns |
File Size | 7 MB |
Spatial Resolution | 90 m |
Units | Centigrade (°C) |
Projection | Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) |
Data Format | HDF-EOS or GeoTIFF |
Vgroup Data Fields | 5 |
TIR (90 Meters)
Vgroup Data Fields/ Spectral Range (µm) |
Units | Data Type | Valid Range | Band Scale Factor |
Band 10 (8.125–8.475) | °C | 16-bit signed integer | -27315 to +5500 | 0.01 |
Band 11 (8.475–8.825) | °C | 16-bit signed integer | -27315 to +5500 | 0.01 |
Band 12 (8.925–9.275) | °C | 16-bit signed integer | -27315 to +5500 | 0.01 |
Band 13 (10.25–10.95) | °C | 16-bit signed integer | -27315 to +5500 | 0.01 |
Band 14 (10.95–11.65) | °C | 16-bit signed integer | -27315 to +5500 | 0.01 |
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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001
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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001
Phone Number: | 605-594-6116 |
Toll Free: | 866-573-3222 |
866-LPE-DAAC | |
Fax: | 605-594-6963 |
Email: | lpdaac@eos.nasa.gov |
Web: | http://lpdaac.usgs.gov |